San Francisco Joe Panik high-fives Buster Posey as they score on Brandon Belt’s a three-run double against Philadelphia on Friday at AT&T Park. After a slow start to his season, Panik was hitting .274 with 16 RBIs through his first 21 games of June – part of a run that has seen the Giants post the best record in the majors since May 11. JIM GENSHEIMERBAY AREA NEWS GROUP

San Francisco Joe Panik high-fives Buster Posey as they score on Brandon Belt’s a three-run double against Philadelphia on Friday at AT&T Park. After a slow start to his season, Panik was hitting .274 with 16 RBIs through his first 21 games of June – part of a run that has seen the Giants post the best record in the majors since May 11. JIM GENSHEIMERBAY AREA NEWS GROUP

Nothing odd or even about it – Giants are plain contenders

The San Francisco Giants are back in championship form, and it has nothing to do with even-numbered years and slovenly conceived narratives.

They’re winning because they’re good as all get out, and to say this has anything to do with the Year of the Monkey is to find yourself at the wrong circus altogether.

The Gregorian calendar didn’t tie the franchise record with 31 wins in 40 games. The Giants just pulled that off on merit, by way of ridiculous pitching, inexplicable hitting and a defense so good, you won’t even notice they’re there.

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When globe beater Madison Bumgarner is your only losing pitcher in the past 15 games, and it’s Jake “Four and Two-Thirds Innings” Peavy sporting a 1.94 ERA in the past month, and Brandon Belt is sitting north of the .300 line …

Yeah, the Giants are giant again. Now that the Golden State Warriors are done winning every NBA game imaginable but the last one, this is as good a time as any to turn our attention back to China Basin.

Was Sunday morning’s communion juice fermented, or did we just see Conor Gillaspie double in the winning run Sunday against the Phillies? And how did Ramiro Pena score that ninth-inning run when we don’t even know who Ramiro Pena is in the first place?

Put another way, this isn’t the One-Armed MadBum Show, where the amazing left-hander ties an entire team to a log and deadlifts them to a title. This isn’t Tim Lincecum and the Happy Band of Tag-Alongs, either.

This is a Giants team that doesn’t know the meaning of June gloom because, again, all that “win a title/take a nap” talk is for fans and writers with nothing but time to kill between World Series coronations.

Forty-nine wins by June 26? The only reason the Texas Rangers beat the Giants to that gold rush of a number Sunday is they played on Central time.

These Giants have won 16 June games with four more in the hole. Take three of four from the Oakland A’s, and they tie the franchise record for what is otherwise the losingest month in Giants lore.

June is where Giants’ dreams go to die a shriveled death. In the fog. Alone. You mean to tell me they’ve won 13 out of 15 in these squalid Hemingway conditions? But go ahead, ESPN, keep telling us what a great year Clayton Kershaw is having. We can handle Dodgers highlights once every five days.

Which is to say, the Giants can call in sick with a team-wide case of scurvy and still not see the backside of your second-place Dodgers. If the Dodgers are going to keep up, this would be a good time to start pitching Kershaw on two days’ rest.

Truth is, the Giants are playing better than the ring bearers of 2010, 2012, and 2014. Are, too.

Consider their 49 wins in the 77 games to date. The 2010 champs won 40 games through June and required 90 games to hit No. 49. The 2012 Giants won their 49th game on July 15, when their season was already 89 games deep. Even the 2014 Giants had to wait until after Independence Day to win seven sevens.

So, go ahead. Grab a bleacher seat, suck on some garlic fries and clear out your October calendar. The Giants are going to be here for a while.

1. Want to know when the United States can be taken seriously as a soccer player? Not when we stop death-knelling to the Argentinas of the globe. Rather, when we have our own shaved-head hooligans causing bloody riots on the streets, and our own convictions for FIFA bribes.

2. This is more outdoors than sports, but every time a friend visits from Texas or Florida or Tennessee, we take them to Giant Sequoias up top and watch their jaw hit the forest floor. Tell me again why so many of you have never taken the kids up the bump to see these ancients for themselves.

3. Eight years ago, Fresno State won the College World Series. It’d be nice to see the Bulldogs add to their postseason portfolio – even a stepbrother of an NCAA Regional appearance would do – but time does nothing to wipe that 2008 smile off our face.